


Something in the Water

by Madame de flammes (owlaholic68)



Category: Monster of the Week (Tabletop RPG), Original Work
Genre: Blood Drinking, Blood and Injury, Gen, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-25
Updated: 2019-04-25
Packaged: 2020-01-31 16:15:42
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18594871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/owlaholic68/pseuds/Madame%20de%20flammes
Summary: Everyone who lives in Bleston knows that sometimes, when you walk by the river late at night, you’ll hear someone shout “help!” And everyone knows that it’s a trap.You only investigate if someone – or something – yells “fire!” That’s how you know it’s safe. That’s how you know it’s not a monster ready to drag you to the depths of that cold river.That’s how it’s always been in Bleston. Always.





	Something in the Water

Stacy prides herself on the protective wards that line the entrance to the basement of their headquarters. They warn her when someone’s coming in and they keep monsters out.

Right now, her wards are having a hell of a time figuring out whether the individual stumbling down the stairs is a Monster or a Human.

“What is it?” Aisha looks up from her laptop when Stacy stands, furrowing her brow.

“Someone’s coming down the stairs,” Stacy murmurs. “I’m not sure who or what they are.”

Aisha stands too and grabs her shotgun from where it’s resting against her chair. Though she was more of a strategist than a fighter, it always paid to be prepared. The main fighting force was out right now taking care of a particularly nasty zombie infestation down at the Southern Cemetery. That left just them alone in the headquarters.

“I think Jacques is in his office,” Aisha whispers. “In case we need backup.”

That’s right, Stacy remembers. Jacques and James, the two heads of the group, normally left together. But James said he was going to grab them all dinner while they worked on finding a solution to the zombie problem.

Heavy footfalls sound from the hallway, accompanied by labored wheezing breathing. The footsteps stop and Stacy hears a pained whine, then a wet cough. Speaking of wet, it sounds like the person or monster is dumping buckets of water on the ground with every step.

Wait – If the wards can’t tell if the person is human or not…

“James?” Stacy pokes her head around the corner of the doorway. She keeps her large hunting knife at the ready. “Is – is that you?”

“Yeah… S-Stacy?” The voice is quiet and weak, but it’s James for sure. Stacy rushes out into the hallway and gasps. She grabs Aisha’s arm.

Aisha sucks in an alarmed breath and starts forward. “Gods above, James. Are you – you’re not okay, we need to get you to the infirmary _right now-”_

“Stop,” James hisses. He’s leaning on the wall with his left hand. There’s a trail of bloody handprints down the wall, echoed by a path of reddish water leading from the door to where James is barely standing. He normally rivals Stacy in terms of looking put-together, but right now his clothing is torn and his sodden hair is hanging in depressing tangles around his face.

“Stop?” Aisha falters at the desperately feral look in his eyes.

James’ shaking left arm betrays him and he nearly keels over. Now that Stacy has a better look at him, she notices that his right arm is hanging limp and twisted at a nauseating angle. His left leg doesn’t look like it’s fared any better.

Aisha rushes to steady him and Stacy yanks her back as James snarls, teeth unnaturally sharp and eyes turning blood-red.

“We – we need to get Jacques,” Stacy says. “He’ll know how to help. _Jacques!”_

Jacques comes at a run, because Stacy never raises her voice and he’s never heard her scream in that panicked tone. He skids to a stop a few feet away.

“James!”

James’ stare is unfocused when he looks up. He pants, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth where his teeth – no, his fangs – have nicked his lip. “Jacques,” he sighs, the name always coming out different in his voice, sweeter and softer and stuffed full of their shared history.

“What _did_ this to you?” Jacques demands. He clenches his fists.

“That river _bastard._ It’s learned, Jacques. It yelled _fire.”_

Stacy’s grip on Aisha’s arm tightens. The river monster. Their group had records of this particular abomination for centuries. Every year it got someone, usually a tourist or someone who didn’t know its traps. But for it to be able to sink its jaws into someone as slippery and tough as James?

Jacques grits his teeth and jerkily nods. “That one next, then. I think our group is strong enough now to take it down.” _And how wrong he’d be, though Stacy didn’t know it at the time – they’d lose their entire Hunting team trying to finish the beast off._

“But for now, come here. We need to get you down to the infirmary right now.”

James flits his glance to Aisha, then back to Jacques. “But-”

“Don’t worry about it. Come here, it’ll be fine. Trust me, James.” Jacques steps in close and holds out his arms.

James steps into the embrace. He takes a shaky breath, then leans down and sinks his teeth into the side of Jacques’ pale neck.

Aisha shrieks and Stacy has to hold her back. “It’s okay!” Stacy says. “It’s fine, he’s going to be fine. Jacques knows his limits and – and he trusts James not to overdo it.”

If anything, this makes Aisha panic more. “You _knew_ he – that James was a _vampire?”_

“I’ll explain later.” Stacy pats her shoulder. “But for now, just know that he’s still the same guy. And he’s, like, bleeding out on the floor so we should probably get him patched up…”

“I’ll take care of him,” Jacques promises, voice trembling (good acting, Jacques has always been a damn good actor- Stacy bets it doesn't even hurt at all). He strokes James’ soaked hair as his friend drains him of his life force. “Come on, darlin’.” He lifts James into the world’s most awkward and least romantic bridal carry and heads down the hallway towards their woefully underequipped infirmary.

Stacy watches them go and wonders if Jacques feels the same guilt that lies heavy in her chest. She normally wouldn’t think he felt anything, but to know it was his fault _again_ (first the vampires and now the river monster too) that the only person he probably ever cared about was torn up.

Does he even _really_ care? Stacy watches him kiss James on the forehead and murmur something in his ear, and thinks that maybe he does.

Maybe. It’s always hard to tell with demons.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the MOTW campaign I'm writing - Jacques is a demon pretending to be human, and only Stacy knows (because Jacques has enlisted her help to create the very monsters they're supposed to be fighting). James suspects there's a reason his lover has been alive for even longer than he has, but he really doesn't know. Aisha is a new recruit and has no idea.


End file.
